Got my results from 1st study - any comments?

allisonandrews · Post by **allisonandrews** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:25 pm

I got my results today. Diagnosis was mild OSA and I will have a titration later on (whenever I can get in to the lab).
Any comments on these results? Any additional information you need? I have the full report.

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allisonandrews · Post by **allisonandrews** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:55 pm

Here is my chart

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c316/ ... _52_12.jpg

mindy · Post by **mindy** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:31 pm

Hi Allison,

Welcome!

I don't feel qualified to comment too much on your sleep study but I'm sure Snoredog et al will chime in later with their much more informed thoughts but I thought you might be able to use a reply sooner.

Although overall your AHI is barely above "minimum", on your back it's higher. The one thing I really noticed is your lowest oxygen saturation ... it's rather low so that might indicate something about the length of your apneas.

You do have stage 3 sleep and a reasonable amount of REM sleep which is good.

Hang in there!
Mindy

justplainbill · Post by **justplainbill** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:51 pm

Allison-
I am not particularly expert on this but your results overall suggest mild obstructive sleep apnea (based on your Apnea-Hypopnea Index-or AHI- being over 5 but less than 15). Apneas are periods of 10 seconds or longer where there is no intake of air into your lungs, Hypopneas are periods of 10 seconds or longer of significant reduction of air intake into your lungs).

There are a couple of other features that warrant consideration. Your sleep study shows a normal level of REM sleep (which is good) but very little stage 3 and 4 sleep (ideally you should have about 20% of stage 3/4 sleep). Stage 3/4 sleep, sometimes referred to as deep sleep or delta sleep is considered to be the stage of sleep most important to your body's restoring itself during sleep.

Another thing that these results show is a large number of arousals that are unrelated to apnea/hypopnea events, other respiratory events (respiratory effort related arousals, also known as RERAs), limb movements, or snoring. These Spontaneous arousals might be related in part to conditions of the sleep study, but they may indicate that there are factors, in addition to apnea, that are interfering with your sleep. This is something you will want to discuss with your sleep specialist.

Your minimum oxygen level of 75% is pretty low (it should be around 93% and your baseline oxygen level should be a little higher than it is). The good news is that your oxygen level fell to the minimum level only very briefy but your sleep specialist should also be able to give you some further information about your average oxygen level while asleep (which should again ideally be at the level you had on baseline). It does look from your printout that you had some moderately lengthy periods of decreased oxygen levels but again you sleep specialist can tell you more about this and help rule out something like the pulse oximeter falling off your finger.

As I say, I am not expert on this and some of the other folks might be able to provide some good feedback too.

If there are other things you would like to know about, do feel free to ask. Also feel free to browse the Our Collective Wisdom section of this forum to find out more about apnea.

Keep us posted on how things work out.

Best wishes,
Bill

allisonandrews · Post by **allisonandrews** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:04 am

Thanks.

I think I might have some issues with Silent GERD that might account for the "other" issues. It seems like when I am sleeping I feel like there is constantly mucus in the back of my throat that I have to keep swallowing. I never have any heart burn though, which is what makes me think it could be the silent form. I didn't even associate it with reflux until I just randomly came across something about it.

allisonandrews · Post by **allisonandrews** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:38 am

Here are some of the other pages from the report;

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 9:09 am

Allison,
I'm no doctor, nor anything professional having to do with sleep labs etc.

To my untutored eye, you oxygenation when awake -81% (!) needs explanation.

Maybe the oxygenation measurements when you were awake were wrong. But this should be checked.

A person in the hospital is given oxygen when their oxygenation drops below 90% (ninety percent).

81% when awake - and you were awake for about 90 minutes is bizzare.

Please discuss this with any doctor you meet - the reason for it - measurement problem or medical problem has to be found.

O.

allisonandrews · Post by **allisonandrews** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 9:56 am

I know it ranged from 75 - 98, but I don't know how much faith I put in that little bugger. Out of everything hooked up to me, that was the ONE thing that bothered the snot out of me. I sleep with my hands slightly balled up. Having to keep my one finger straight out was just horrible. I know at least one time they had to come in and readjust it. It was still taped to my finger, but I had managed to slide it far enough down that the readings weren't good. I also know that I played with it quite a bit trying to go to sleep - I kept accidentally poking my finger all the way through it. I also found the light in it annoying when it was dark, so I kept trying to shove it under the pillow, etc.

During the titration I will try to be better about it. Hopefully those readings might be a bit more accurate.